Sister Brenda Sunday School 2/10/12

Sister Brenda Sunday School 2/10/12

Lessons from Exodus.

We go from Genesis where Joseph reconciled with his family to Exodus where there is a new king that doesn’t know Joseph and everything is changed.  As we begin reading in Exodus it is as if we are turning a page.

Exo 1:7  And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.

Exo 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.

Exo 1:9  And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:

Exo 1:10  Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

Exo 1:11  Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.

Exo 1:12  But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.

Exo 1:13  And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:

Exo 1:14  And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.

Exo 1:15  And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

Exo 1:16  And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

Exo 1:17  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

Exo 1:18  And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

Exo 1:19  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

Exo 1:20  Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

Exo 1:21  And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

Exo 1:22  And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

We see that God was really blessing the Children of Israel.  They were under much hardship.  We can imagine what it was like.  They had to work hard.  The women had to work also.  Imagine a woman that was pregnant going out and working hard. 

They wanted to stop the men children from being born, but the midwives feared God.  If we will fear God, then God will bless His children.  We need to have the fear of God in our lives, a carefulness in our service to God that we obey the Word.  We need to have ears and hearts to hear what is brought us across the pulpit or from a testimony or from the Spirit of God which deals with each of us in our lives. 

God knows what is best for us personally, He is a personal God.  He knows our weaknesses and what it will cost us to serve him.  If we will fear God and have that obedience then God will bless us.

One way that God blessed the midwives when they feared God was that He gave them houses.  I believe the Hebrew women were lively and God gave them strength, He had to.  In these days I read that the mortality of babies was high.  There was not the sensitivity toward their weak condition and a lot of them died. 

One reason that they were lively birthing was because they were strong.  We want to be a strong spiritual mother and be ready so that we will know how to care for the babes.

These women were told by the king to kill these boy babies when they were born but they feared God and did not do it.  When we are put into the situation where there are laws that are contrary to the Word of God what will we do?  Does God expect us to obey the authority or the Word of God?  We must honor God and His commandments above anything else.

Act 5:12  And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

Act 5:13  And of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them.

Act 5:14  And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women.)

Act 5:15  Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them.

Act 5:16  There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one.

Act 5:17  Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation,

Act 5:18  And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison.

Act 5:19  But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said,

Act 5:20  Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life.

Act 5:21  And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught. But the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called the council together, and all the senate of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

Act 5:22  But when the officers came, and found them not in the prison, they returned, and told,

Act 5:23  Saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety, and the keepers standing without before the doors: but when we had opened, we found no man within.

Act 5:24  Now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow.

Act 5:25  Then came one and told them, saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing in the temple, and teaching the people.

Act 5:26  Then went the captain with the officers, and brought them without violence: for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.

Act 5:27  And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them,

Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

Act 5:29  Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

We want to be strong.  We ought to obey God rather than men.  God help this to be sealed in our hearts and minds.  We should, it is necessary and we must, obey God rather than men.  This is why we need to fear God and obey Him so that we have the power, wisdom, and strength to obey God rather than men.

Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Act 4:19  But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.

Act 4:20  For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.

Question put to the congregation:  What is the fear of God in your life?

Answer from the congregation: 

Respect and honor for God.  He has done so much for me that I wouldn’t even want to do anything to hurt Him. 

I can picture in my mind the dove of the Holy Spirit with head bowed.  When we think of all that he did so that we could be saved, why would we want to do anything to cause the Spirit of God to be hurt? 

The fear of God does a work.  Some have the attitude: who cares?  But the word of God causes us to settle, “This is the way that it is going to be.”  When we get it settled then we can go forward and serve God.

To me it is inconceivable that one would be in opposition to the God that created them.

There is fear because we know that God is going to do what He said.  If we have sin in our life then we are not going to go to heaven.  A child will not do some things because they fear the consequences.  It would be terrible to be lost and not know if God will talk to us.

Jer 32:38  And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:

Jer 32:39  And I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them:

The fear of God is for our good.  If you go around the fear of God then you will be unhappy.  The fear of God equals our happiness because it keeps us alive and well with God.

Noah moved with fear prepared an arc to the saving of His house.  He is an example of fearing God.  It was not easy what he had to do, but he feared God and built the arc.  God help us to be someone that others can point to and say, “They fear God and have the fear of God in their lives and do what He says.”

Realizing that God has the right to have expectations of us is a part of the fear of God.  We would not be here if it were not for him.  We don’t have to understand it all.  Respect, honor, and obedience is due Him.  If some have a struggle with His demands is because they don’t understand that He has that right.

God always has our best interest in heart.  Whatever He tells us to do it is for our good because He loves us and cares about us.  He is not out to make our life rough or unpleasant but He loves us.  Jesus’ suffering proved His love.  How could we do any less than be a vessel ready for use because He loved us.

We can see in the events of our life that He is God and there are no accidents.  It helps us to know that we are in loving hands.  It is wonderful to be a child of God and to have all that protection and security.  God help us to stay in the hand of God.

The more deteriorated the family or school is the less fear that a child has.  I see in the kids that I work with that there is no fear of anything in the child’s life.  They tell the teacher that they were the worst teacher ever and then are upset that the teacher kicked them out of their class.  They say words that they should not to the superintendent.  How many of us would have said anything to the superintendent? 

I pray for the young parents with children.  What an awesome responsibility that parents have.  Many are not taking that responsibility.  The children are left to their computers or games or whatever.  What an awesome thing to look back on your life and say, “I was faithful, I brought those children up in the fear and admonition of God.” 

I wonder if one reason why God commands some things is because it gives us structure.  If there is no structure:  If a child is raising themselves, there is no structure.  We need structure in our lives.  Without that structure, we are like a duck in a pond and there is no direction.

A child is just a child, how can they manage if no one gives them training or paths to follow.  When your children act out it is because they want to know where the boundary is.  They don’t feel loved if the boundaries are not there. 

There are times when because of the fear of God and because we love God and His commands, there are some things that we will not do.  It is already settled.  There are other times when as Paul said, “I fear God”, when it is because we are saying, “I’m going to get a hold of God, We need Him.”  There are times when there is a question of what to do and because we fear God we get a hold of Him. 

God will never fail to give us the direction we need.  He promised that He would lead us in the paths and show us the way.  He will not fail if we will have that fear of God.

Pro 14:26  In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge.

If we have the fear of the Lord, we have everything:  confidence and a place of safety.  If we are fearing God and doing our best to be obedient, then we can say, “I don’t know the answer, but I know that you are going to help me.” 

It is that way in our life: it is His job to help us.  He will help us to know what to bring in Sunday school.  “Lord, I am giving you my time, in study, I have the bible and the commentaries and I know that you will help me.”  It is that way in our whole life.  If we will fear God we can have the confidence that He will help us in all our life.